A Comeback and College Cookies!

I'm back!  I'm sure you missed me (not)... I took a WAY long blog break.  Life got crazy, senior in high school and a VERY busy 7th grader put a big fat damper on my creative activities.  Now I've sent Sweet Son off to college FAR FAR (18 hours far) away last week, and I need something to keep my mind from the feeling I'm always forgetting something (that would be my KID), and wondering if he got up for class.  Can I just say, college is SO MUCH COOLER now than when I went... I really would love a do-over, and this time I promise I would not sleep through class.  Did I mention I'm worried about SS sleeping through class?

So, my project this week was our first College Care Package... which included standard snacks and junk food (and some fresh tortillas, cuz' he's a Texas boy and, let's face it, Virginia is NOT the Tex-Mex capital of the world).  But the most fun part of our package was the cookies... or really, how we sent them.  Dear Daughter and I spent an afternoon on this fun little project... we started by making the classic Nestle Tollhouse recipe. Don't know what got into me because I haven't made cookies from scratch SINCE the inception of Slice and Bakes.  

The things we do for our kids... 

After reading a couple of suggestions on Pinterest, we decided to try the Pringles can packaging method... so easy and fun AND we got to eat the Pringles before we could start.  Win win!  The can keeps them fresh and intact and cookies fit like a charm.  I was surprised to find we could get about a dozen and a half cookies in one of those classic cans.  We had to test a little to figure out how big to make the cookies so they would fit... Dear Daughter was happy to eat the mistakes.  

For the can, rinse and dry out the inside, then it's ready to decorate (or not!).  We used some card stock and stickers in his school colors, and put a little "love" note on top.  Tie it with a ribbon to help keep the lid in place.  Box it up with some extra padding (and more junk food and a cool $20, of course), and send it Priority Mail or UPS early in the week so it doesn't sit in the post office getting stale over the weekend... 

Hopefully we will have a happy(er) college boy in a few days...

Until next time (and hopefully not SOOOOO long), peeps!

Semi-Wordless Wednesday... March Photos of the Day

So, I left off at WINDOW... I can't promise I did these in order but I did them.

RED... ZZ Top /?concert at the rodeo

LOUD... New York City

Someone I talked to today...

FORK... in the road.

SIGN... and yes, that's THE Mystic Pizza.

CLOUDS... and beach in Glen Cove, NY.

Car... and Miss LuLu, the GPS that steered us all the way through the Northeast last week.

Sunglasses... and an awesome friend I hadn't seen in 20 years!

Green... Sweet Son on the United States Naval Academy Campus

Leavin' on a jet plane...

At the time this posts I will be on a plane with the little cutie-pie in this pic... except the little cutie-pie is now almost 6 feet tall and carries the luggage.  Yep, I'm heading off with Sweet Son for CollegeTour-A-Palooza... four schools in five days in a part of the country I have never seen.  

Just me.

and the boy.

and a rent car.

and 100's of miles.

FAR FAR away from home.

Did you catch that FAR FAR away part? 

Have I mentioned he's not seriously considering one single school in
the great state of Texas?  

NOT.ONE.SCHOOL.

Didn't I mention something Monday about my children perhaps being a "tad" too freakishly independent?

Heavy.

Sigh.

I guess I'll always have the pictures.

And Handsome Hubby... with whom I am not celebrating my TWENTIETH wedding anniversary today, because... well, I'm on a plane with SS.  No worries... HH and I have a BIG trip planned with FIVE WHOLE DAYS of celebrating our 20 (TWENTY!!!  Did I say TWENTY?!) years as a pretty darn happily married duo on the most amazing beach in the world... one month and counting.  WOOT! 

Monday Mom Moment...

I'm having a moment... see that cute little smiling face on the left?  That's Dear Daughter... it's Spring Break (woo hoo!) and she's spending the week with her awesome Aunt Kim and her cousins at "Camp Aunt Kim".  Today they are at the Texas State Capital celebrating the 100th anniversary of Girl Scouting.  She and her aunt are kindred Girl Scout spirits, and they were beyond excited for this little adventure.  This is the first glimpse I've had since she left yesterday, and I won't get my hands on that cuteness again until Sunday.  SUNDAY people.  That's an entire week without my little mini-me, my partner in crime, my joyful little ball of energy and hilarity.

Here's the deal... I have prided myself on raising independent, self-confident children.  Mine were the toddlers who skipped happily into Mother's Day Out without so much as a glance over their shoulder.  I pitied the moms with the clingy, screaming psycho-separation anxiety kids.  Now it has backfired on me and I am the one with psycho-separation anxiety... they go, and they WANT to go, and they smile back at me from photos I'm not in, from adventures I only maybe share virtually (Sweet Son is anti-facebook, so I don't even get that little luxury when he's gone).  This is our goal as parents... I know, this is what we are supposed to do... raise them to be self sufficient, happy and well adjusted.  I'm good with that most of the time... except when I get no sleepy, squishy cheeked kisses first thing in the morning for an ENTIRE WEEK.  Ok, I will stop my pouting shortly now.  Back to your regularly scheduled Monday...

Friday Photo of the Day...

View of Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Carnival  from Reliant Stadium

Jumping in a little late, but I've decided to try this Photo of the Day Challenge... join in if you feel like it!

Yesterday was WINDOW... took this last night at the rodeo, and HH could not figure out why I WANTED a pic with the window bar showing.  Now he knows.

A few more from another fun night of pretending to be a cowgirl...and yes, I finally got to wear the outfit.

Chuckwagon Races

ZZ  TOP!!!

Every cowgirl's got to have a cute cowboy... 

Million Dollar Monday...

Handsome Hubs and I had a date night (woot!) on Saturday... we were gifted (more cheers for the work perks) tickets to see the Broadway Across America production of Million Dollar Quartet.  

MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET is the smash-hit musical inspired by the famed recording session that brought together rock 'n' roll icons Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins for the first and only time..  Here they are on that night in 1956... 

And here is the cast of the show... 

What a great time... my problem?  I hear awesome live music and can't keep still, took every ounce of self control in my body not to get up and start rockin' out in the aisle.  Ummm... not exactly welcome by the "premium seat holders" at the Hobby Center.  It is beyond me how all these people could sit and listen to "Great Balls of Fire", "Blue Suede Shoes" and "Walk the Line" without so much as a HEAD BOB.  

Come on people, loosen up!

Afterwards we were invited to a special post-show party where we were able to meet the cast... HH said he felt a little like he was at Disney taking pics of his wife with the Mouse.  

Funny man he is... but hey, I'm not proud.  

With Jerry Lee Lewis... who happens to hail from Manchester  England.
WHAT THE HECK?

Johnny Cash!  Love that man in black...

And finally... that hunka, hunka (20 year old) burning love... check it out, he even has the lip thing down.

Semi-Wordless Wednesday...Naughty and Nice Nieces

If only I knew what scheming is going on in that pretty little curly head...